This is fun

This is fun. You can add these words to this blog's url and get some different views for reading the blog. For example: http://sandycreekranch.blogspot.com/view/flipcard. Here are some of the different views you can get. Try it.

Flipcard: available at [blogURL]/view/flipcard

Mosaic: available at [blogURL]/view/mosaic

Sidebar: available at [blogURL]/view/sidebar

Snapshot: available at [blogURL]/view/snapshot

Timeslide: available at [blogURL]/view/timeslide

Farewell Santa Fe

We are leaving Santa Fe today. This morning we started early as we always do, having not gotten out of the "farm" habit. We walked to the square and had a great breakfast in the La Fonda galleria. After breakfast we walked back to the condo, picked up the car and drove over to The Railyard, a shopping center made where the old Santa Fe railroad station was located. We walked around but there weren't many shops open. From there we drove to Ziggy's international market looking for blue corn flour or meal. They didn't have it so we went to Whole Foods and found it there but didn't buy it because we can get it in San Diego. Down the block from Whole Foods was a chocolate factory, so we felt obligated to stop in and sample some. We bought some, too, for later consumption. One more stop before returning to the condo: we found the Chocolate Maven that we were told was a real bakery, not like the bakery-cafes we'd been in.  We were told the truth, the Chocolate Maven, located in an industrial-type building was a thriving bakery. We snagged some samples there and bought some chocolate chile hot chocolate mix and a chocolate-cherry tart. Are you seeing a trend, here?

Now we are packing up to leave for Albuquerque.

Hump Day

It was a relatively uneventful day today. I didn't even take any pictures. We stayed around Santa Fe, starting off with breakfast at home and then going to some of the local shops we had been wanting to visit. While Dennis took care of some business on the phone, I walked a half block to a yarn store. I didn't need anything, but I like to get my yarn fix. Dennis was done by the time I got back, so we walked across the street to the Lucchese boot shop. Couldn't afford anything in that shop. Around the corner was a hat shop we wanted to visit. We went in and talked with the shop owner for awhile. I found a leather hat band with what I thought was several sterling silver geese around it. The shopkeeper said they were actually wild turkeys. Turkeys! We had to have it. So we left the hat to have the band sewn on.

Next we walked over to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum near the central square. Interesting, but I only like some of her work. She was an interesting person, though. We walked a few doors down and found a pet supply and grooming shop. We went in just to get our doggie fix. No dogs, but we looked at doggie things.

We were hungry by then, so we went to the Blue Corn Restaurant a few blocks away. After lunch we went back to pick up Dennis's hat, but the shopkeeper was at lunch so we went to another museum, the New Mexico Museum of History. Now my feet were beginning to hurt, so we went next to pick up Dennis's hat and go home for a rest.

I think we are getting tired of being on vacation. Dennis has had to handle some work issues and I am way over my 4 day limit. I am, however, getting a lot of ideas for my own jewelry making. I hope I can remember what I'm seeing by the time we get home.

Tonight, I think we are going to go out for a little dessert. We are still stuffed from lunch, so we won't go out to dinner.

Tomorrow we are leaving Santa Fe in the afternoon, driving back to Albuquerque so we can ride the tram. Friday we will drive over to Gallup to see what they have in the Pawn. We'll stay overnight in Albuquerque, then fly home Saturday.

At least that's the plan.

Taos for Sure

Today we are going to Taos for breakfast. Dennis is waiting for me to stop typing so we can go.

Getting breakfast in Taos is not as easy as we assumed. After our 1-1/2 hour trip to Taos, we parked near a restaurant with a breakfast sign out front. Closed. So we walked about a block west and found nothing. Then we walked around the square, saw a lot of shops, but no breakfast. Finally, we got in the car and went east some more. Eventually we found a really great restaurant: Michael's. It was actually a restaurant and bakery. While we waited for our food, a waitress came around offering fresh doughnut holes, glazed. Really, really good, especially when you're really, really hungry. On the way out we bought tonight's dessert: chocolate eclair.

After breakfast, we continued north until we arrived at the Taos Pueblo, a real Pueblo Indian village. This is a photo of the San Geronimo Church built in 1850. It is a Registered National Historic Landmark and one of the youngest buildings in the village.

Many of the pueblo "homes" have been converted all or in part into small stores offering traditional arts, crafts, and foods. While there, we made a few purchases and, as we were leaving, bought a sweet prune pie to share. We ate it in the car and it was delicious.

This is the Hlaauma/North House. It faces the Hlaukkwima/South House across The Red Willow Creek. These structures are believed to be well over 1000 years old. We spoke to a woman artist in one of the houses and she explained the structure and maintenance of the pueblo homes. The buildings are made of adobe, a mixture of earth, straw and water mixed, poured into forms and sun dried into bricks. After the bricks are stacked and grouted with more of the adobe mixture, the structure is plastered with even more adobe mixture. The interiors are coated with white earth washes. Repainting the inside and replastering the outside is done annually to maintain the structure. There is no electricity and no running water in the village.

This is the south house.

We left the Pueblo around 1:30 p.m. and headed toward the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge, the "Most Beautiful" long span (1280 ft.) bridge. According Wikipedia, this bridge was in several films including Natural Born Killers, Twins, She's Having a Baby, Wild Hogs and Terminator Salvation.

Do I look terrified?

It's a long way down there.

Driving just a little way down the road, we came upon this unusual structure. We passed it but quickly backed up and pulled in the parking area. What is this place? Turns out it's the World Headquarters of Earthship and the Greater World Earthship Community, the world's largest self-sufficient residential development (650 acres). Dennis splurged $5 each for the self-guided tour and was so intrigued by the energy saving and use of recycled materials that he plunked down another $50 for the DVD.

It was getting a little late by then, so we started the trip home to Santa Fe. We had in mind pizza for dinner; either that or a burger at Lotta Burger, a big deal in this part of the country. Pizza won, but we decided to eat it at Whole Foods while we shopped for a few healthy breakfast foods to counteract our sugary dessert.

All-in-all not a bad day, and my feet don't hurt.

Our Neighborhood Candy Store

My sister emailed this link to me: http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=14338292

So in this morning's email I was greeted with a video showing Larry Himmel at our neighborhood candy store: The Wisteria Candy Cottage. We just visited there a couple of weeks ago and I posted some photos of the cottage on the blog. I'm glad the candy store is getting some publicity because it is one of the last (maybe the last) handmade chocolate shop in the city. I love their macadamia turtles. While we are in Santa Fe, NM, we visited a candy store that had turtles about 1/4 the size of Wisteria's. 

If you are ever in Boulevard, California, you MUST stop at the Wisteria Candy Shop. In years past, they packaged and shipped chocolates all over the world. I know they are working on their website, so you may be order online soon. 

Cliff Dwellings

j

We started the day intending to drive to Taos, NM. We had a light breakfast first at Tia Sophia's, a couple of blocks from the condo. Then we walked back to the condo and picked up the car, setting our Tom Tom navigator for Taos. Somewhere along the way, our plans changed, deciding we would stop and see the cliff dwellings. The first stop was at the Puye Cliff Dwellings south of Espanola. We were about 5 minutes late for the 10 o'clock tour, but they told us we could catch up with the group who had already climbed up to the cliff dwellings. It was too steep for me, so Dennis ran up and I went back to the visitors' center. The guide at the visitors' center said she would take me on the mesa tour, which was a drive up to the top of the plateau to look at the Anasazi ruins. So I got a private tour and was able to see the dwellings that had been partially reconstructed on the original site. About 1000 years ago, a thriving community of Anasazi indians lived on the top of the mesa during the winter, moving to the cooler cliff dwellings during the hot summers. It was beautiful on the mesa and quite windy.

The guide told us that the Bandalier National Monument had an even larger area of cliff dwellings and ruins, so we headed there next. This time we both took the 1-mile self-guided walking tour past the ruins and up to the cliff dwellings. It really was an amazing display of an ancient civilization. This is a photo of a very large kiva where the men of the tribe would gather to pray and carry out their tribal responsibilities.

What an interesting day.

When we finished the tour, we had a snack at the visitors' center and got back on the road. We drove by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and stopped at the Bradbury Science Museum to learn more about the Laboratory and the development of the atomic bomb during WWII. 

Obviously, we didn't make it to Taos today. We came back to the condo to rest before dinner. Later in the evening we walked to the Pink Adobe restaurant about 5 blocks away, had dinner and then walked over to the Old Town square on our way back home. Another long day with lots of walking and my feet are sore again.

The rest of the day

After breakfast we drove about 5 miles to the flea market north of Santa Fe. The flea market just opened for the season about 3 weeks ago and not all the vendors were set up yet. It was cold and windy, but we managed to do some shopping.

We returned to town and did some walking around. Old Town Santa Fe is much like Old Town Albuquerque. Shops and restaurants surround a central square with monuments and museums close by. Indian vendors and other artists come every day to sell their wares. The best bargains are at the square. The shops are more upscale (expensive) and rarely negotiate on price. Everyone was friendly though.











A monument in the square memorializes the Santa Fe Trail. A wagon trail starting in Independence, MO, and ending in Santa Fe, NM.

This is a magnificent cathedral and museum situated at the end of a street in Old Town.

After doing some sightseeing, we had lunch in a small Mexican restaurant a few blocks away. We made our way back to the condo shopping at the street vendor area and window shopping in some of the upscale stores.

By the time we got back, my feet were sore again.

We stayed in tonight, snacked on apples and cheese then split a Tres Leches piece of cake we bought yesterday at Whole Foods. We watched a movie about the life of Georgia O'Keeffe in preparation for a visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. We'll probably walk there tomorrow as it is only 5 blocks away.

If it's Sunday

Normally, our Sunday mornings consist of watching the morning news shows: Sunday Morning, Face the Nation, Meet the Press ("If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press."), and Fareed Zakaria's GPS. Today was similar, except we missed Fareed's show because we don't have a recorder here. Also, we didn't have ranch chores to do. To be honest, Dennis usually does the ranch chores on Sunday, but not today.

We thought we would start the day conservatively with breakfast foods we bought yesterday at Whole Foods. Dennis had fresh berries and granola and I had yogurt, berries and granola. A good start.

Billy the Kid Slept Here

There's a plaque on the outside of our time share, Otra Vez en Santa Fe, commemorating the three-month stay of Billy the Kid during the winter of 1980-81. At that time, the structure was a miserable windowless one-room adobe building serving as the Santa Fe, NM, county jail. Today, however, Otra Vez offers lovely vacation-stay units in the heart of Old Santa Fe.  

We started our vacation at 3:30 a.m., waking up very early to catch a 7 a.m. flight to Albuquerque, NM. The San Diego airport is about an hour away and we have ranch chores, thus the early rise time. Also, I always like to start early so I have time to remember everything I forgot the night before. As it turned out, I forgot my Kindle (yikes!) as well as my wrist-zapper that keeps me from getting motion sickness. Not a very good start. 

After negotiating the airport gauntlet, we had an easy 1-1/2-hour flight to Albuquerque. We left cold, rainy weather in San Diego to arrive in a warm, sunny climate. Why did I pack all those sweaters? 

We had a spicy Mexican breakfast at Little Anita's Mexican Restaurant in Old Town Albuquerque then took a leisurely walk around the town square.  

Our first stop was across the street to visit the Candy Lady, ostensibly to pick up a walking map of Old Town. However, once there, Dennis engaged the owner in a discussion of "hot" chocolates, chocolate candy with hot seasoning. He tasted a couple and bought several. I picked out one peanut butter chocolate and 8 red vines. We haven't eaten any yet. We did do some shopping as we strolled around the square. You can hardly not buy anything since the square is surrounded with boutique shops featuring jewelry, clothing, and food. 

We ran across two shops where I had purchased beads online: Sun Country Beads and New Mexico Bead and Fetish. Dennis was very patient.

Then we took some photos of the cathedral, park and the many bronze statues associated with the museums in the area.

Exhausted from marathon shopping and sightseeing, we took off in our rented Liberty Jeep and headed north to Santa Fe. On the way, we passed a sign for the Sandia Peak Tram, touted as the longest tram in the world. We saw the little white dots (trams) going up and down the mountain. Dennis declared he'd "always wanted to ride that tram." I said, "Huh?" No way. "But look at the view," he said. I looked and saw an expanse of brown nothing. No thanks, I'm not risking my life for that. We just got off an airplane that was way, way up there. I'm done. Well, maybe we'll go back later in the week and take the tram at night, have dinner at the fine restaurant on top (at 10,000 feet) and at least see a view of twinkling lights. Sigh.

Onward another half-hour to Santa Fe, where we checked into our time-share condo. Turned out it was a 2-bedroom rather than the 1-bedroom we expected. We're on the corner and there's a bookstore below us! Yea. We are surrounded by shops and restaurants all within walking distance. This will be a fun week. We are happy with our accommodations, compact but nicely appointed in the southwest style.

We unloaded the car and unpacked our stuff, then took advantage of the good weather and sunlight to walk about 1 mile to Whole Foods to pick up some odds and ends. My feet were sqawking after the 2 mile walk, but in about a half-hour, Dennis suggested we walk about the area and have a light dinner. So off again. We had dinner a couple of blocks away in the tiny Burro Alley bakery/cafe. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food there. We split a 3-cheese salad and had French onion soup, both of which were delicious. They kicked us out at closing time (8 o'clock), but were very nice about it. Down the street we found a performing arts theatre. It was closed, but we looked at the posters and found we had just missed Arlo Guthrie. Oh, well.

At last we arrived back "home" and were able to kick off our shoes and relax with a movie Dennis had recorded on his iPhone. We watched The Fighter, which was a pretty good flick. Actually, I watched it while Dennis took a nap on the sofa. Just like home. After the movie, to bed. Finally.

Spike is Back

Yesterday morning I drove through the rain and fog the 30 miles to Alpine to pick up Spike from the pet hospital. I hate it when he has to stay overnight. He hates it too. When we got home, Spike ran up the little hill from the carport to the house and blasted through his doggy door. By the time I caught up with him he was giving me his "feed me" stare. So I did. And then I did it again. He was starved. He ate a whole can of Mighty Dog instead of just a half can. Then he wanted a cookie. Is that great or what?

Spike Goes to the Hospital

Today, when I picked up Spike, my Yorkshire Terrier, from the groomer, she showed me a mat of hair at Spike's neck. She said she could shave it off, but wanted me to see it because it looked like it was a wound that had been oozing and matted the hair. So I let her shave it off and we saw under it a round sore about the size of a nickel. It looked like a puncture wound at the center and was red and wet around it. So we stopped at the vet on the way home and he said he had to see if there was anything in there and then suture it. He said Spike's teeth needed cleaning, too, and he might lose some of them. The worst part, Spike had to stay overnight. Poor Spike. He's almost 16 now and it's a risk when old dogs, especially small old dogs, have to be given anesthesia. I'm feeling sad and worried for my sweet little dog.


Then, tonight, when I looked at my email, I saw one from my cousin Betty about her oldest and most loved Yorky, Daisy. Daisy passed on today. This is a very sad day.

Busy Wednesday

Fairly busy day today. I had a riding lesson around 11 a.m. Then my sister, Angie, came over so we could decorate the fused wine bottles I made for her to give away at the Titanium Rally in April. She and Gary have been working hard to make the rally a success. The fused wine bottles are going to be door prizes or something.

Meanwhile, Geno came over to help me with my Macs. I've been having difficulty getting to the network and the two Macs didn't see each other either. As he was leaving, Geno showed me his Segway. Pretty cool people mover.

Movie Tuesday

Now that was a good movie. Angie, Mom  & I saw The Lincoln Lawyer on Tuesday and we all enjoyed it. I especially liked it because I had read the book and thought that was really good, too. Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. I've read all his books and am particularly a fan of his Harriy Bosch series. The Lincoln Lawyer was not a Harry Bosch story, but I still think it's one of Connelly's best.

Lemon Artichoke Pesto Pasta Sauce

We had dinner at our house tonight with Mom, Angie and Gary. I fixed a new recipe: Lemon Artichoke Pesto Pasta Sauce, served over tiny squash-filled ravioli. They were cute. Gary had regular pasta with tomato sauce. Dennis made broccoli with a lemon-garlic sauce. I think we all enjoyed the meal. Mom brought dessert, Cassatelle, a chickpea-filled pastry traditionally made for St. Joseph's Day, which was yesterday. They were good, too!

Where are all the turkeys?

As the turkeys have become more familiar with the ranch, they have wandered further and further away and, recently, have not returned to the "nest" at night. We have been feeding them in a large round pen and putting them in at night. Last Thursday and Friday, our group shrank from 12 to eight. Three males and one female failed to show up for dinner. That left 8, one of them a female (my favorite, with curly toes). This morning the group of 8 were seen on La Posta Truck Trail, the road outside the ranch. They were marching along in a line, one after the other. Later, only one turkey showed up at the house. It was pitiful to hear him gobbling away, calling to his friends. By evening, three turkeys had shown up, with one joining up later. My curly toes was not among them. So sad. I miss her.

New Coat for Wildfire

Gary bought a car cover for Wildfire while he was in town this morning. Dennis and I put it on the car and cut a hole for the antenna. We used the provided antenna patch to reinforce the hole, but we didn't trust it would do the job so we applied our trusty duct tape.

Tonight we are having the family over for dinner. I found a recipe for Lemon Artichoke Pesto which we'll have over tiny ravioli filled with squash. I'll make the sauce and Dennis will cook a vegetable (broccoli or asparagus). That should be a good and healthy dinner.

Saturday, March 19

Dennis and I met some friends at the Descanso Junction restaurant for breakfast. Wildfire took us the 21 miles to the restaurant and 21 miles back, with Dennis driving. They did a great job. When we got back home, we sat for a few minutes in the car while we programmed the remote (located on the rearview mirror) for the front gate and Mom's house. Then we paired my iPhone to the car and entered some numbers in the Contact list so we can make handsfree calls. We started to watch the video that came with the car, but we both fell asleep. We'll try again later.

Wildfire

That's the name of my new Barcelona Red Prius. We bought it on the day of Japan's earthquake and tsunami. Talk about timing. It was hard enough to find a red one. I understand production has stopped and the prices are going up.

I used CarsDirect (a wonderful service), who found one for me in San Jose. It was delivered on Friday and Mom, Angie and I took it for a little spin around the ranch and up to the Casino and back. When I pulled it into the carport, the car was filthy--the ranch is a very dry, dusty place. I cleaned it up and we put Mom's car cover (too small) and a blanket on it so the turkeys wouldn't be attracted to it. Those turkeys would peck at the "turkeys" reflected by the shiny car and then they would jump on it for sure.

There were only 8 turkeys today, down from 12. I wonder what happened to those four turkeys? Among the missing is one of the two females, so I guess we are down to one female and 7 males.

Tonight we had dinner at Live Oak Springs, about 5 miles east of us. We saw a sign advertising Mexican food and that sounded good. The menu also included barbeque and Italian food. Hmmm, not a good sign. However, it wasn't bad for a restaurant in the backcountry. We can't afford to be too critical and the price was right.

Riding in Laguna

Today's Trail Ride on Thursday took place in Laguna. We thought it would be ok because it has been two weeks since the big snow storm. Still, there was a little snow left in the shady spots. Moreover, the water was running along some of the trails. I learned something today: Doc does not like to walk in water. He never put up a fuss before when crossing water, but he does not like to walk down a trail with water running under his feet. Everything was going so well until the end when we came across a dip in the trail with running water. Doc took a drink as he normally does, but then he took a huge jump over the water to the other side. Flying is fun.

Riding on Wednesday

Wednesday is usually my day to have a riding lesson, but today Betsy, my trainer, was in Hawaii, so no lesson. Instead, I exercised Doc in the new round pen, then rode him in the new arena. It was fun, and, of course, Doc was perfect.

Movie Tuesday

Slim pickings at the movies....we saw I Am Number 4, a movie we knew nothing about. We had seen the previews, but it sounded like a mystery...3 people had been killed, and the "hero" was No. 4. Turned out it was aliens vs. aliens in the United States. Strange, but it wasn't half bad...and there's always the popcorn.

Oh Noooooo

One of our 3 female turkeys was run over by a car today. That only leaves two females and 11 males. It's a sad day.

It was a busy day, too. Dennis was very busy doing a demonstration for visitors among other things. Neil Shaw came down to help out. I fixed Neil breakfast (pancakes and Canadian bacon). Then I went down to the glass shop to start melting wine bottles in the kiln for Angie and Gary to take to their Titanium rally. I found one live and three dead mice in drawers so I freaked out and got Eugenio to clean it up before I went back to work in there. Yuk. Did a little work in the office, then went down to the barn to ride Doc. He was really dirty, so when the groomer girls showed up, I had them clean up Doc and didn't ride afterall. It wasn't looking good for accomplishing anything today, but I did go back to the glass shop and worked down there for awhile. Then Mom picked me up (because Dennis was using the car) and we watched the 2-hr. Event at her house since I missed recording it. I worked on knitting a scarf for Angie while we watched the program. Afterwards I came home and gave Spike his lunch and a cookie. He always wants a cookie after his meals. Then I did some more knitting until Dennis came home around 4 p.m.

Sunday at the Ranch

It was a gorgeous day today at the ranch. Dennis and I drove up the south mountain road to take some photos. While there, we saw the turkey flock on the other side of the creek. They are really getting around now. After we took photos there, we drove to Boulevard to support our local candy shop, The Wisteria Candy Cottage, and then stopped by the side of Hwy. 8 to take more photos of the ranch. 

From the top of the hill looking at the riding arenas

Those little dots just on the other side of the creek are the turkeys!

Wisteria Candy Cottage

View of house from Hwy. 8

Doc grazing

Lunch with Bryan

My nephew, Bryan

On the day we returned the Prius, Angie, Mom & I met Bryan for lunch at the Hacienda Mexican restaurant in El Cajon near the Toyota dealership. It was great to spend some time with Bryan, my nephew,  since we rarely see him. His wife, Danielle, had to work so we missed seeing her. Bryan bought us all lunch. Thanks, Bryan!

Pizza Night Sans Pizza

Angie, Gary and the Antipasto

In the old days, we had Pizza Night at Mom's house on Friday nights. Since the diet days arrived, we still have dinner together at Mom's on Fridays, except for the rare dinner out. This Friday Angie and Mom made a spectacular antipasto salad. Good for my diet. Then we had apple pie for dessert--sabotaged again!

Knitting

Here are some scarves I knitted. I love making scarves because they are portable projects, good for taking on trips and knitting in front of the TV. I especially love the ruffles.